All articles tagged with #femtosecond lasers
Microsoft Research's Silica demonstrates writing data into ordinary glass using ultrafast femtosecond laser pulses, creating voxel-based 5D memory with densities up to 1.59 gigabits per cubic millimetre and a palm-sized block capable of storing about two million books, with data lifetimes exceeding 10,000 years.
Microsoft's Project Silica demonstrates storing data in laser-etched borosilicate glass via phase-voxel encoding across multiple layers, yielding up to 4.8 terabytes on a 0.08-inch-thick chip. The four-dimensional approach (voxel plus light phase) promises a durable archival medium with a claimed 10,000-year lifespan, addressing the digital dark age by offering a cost-effective, long-term alternative to magnetic media for libraries and archives.
Microsoft Research’s Project Silica shows data can be written to borosilicate glass with femtosecond lasers, achieving up to 4.84 TB per 12×12 cm slab and potentially 10,000-year stability at room temperature. Data is encoded and read using voxel-based methods (birefringence or refractive-index changes) plus phase-contrast microscopy interpreted by AI, with LDPC error correction. Current writes run at 66 Mbps with four lasers, expandable to more lasers, but large-scale deployment would require many machines. The approach offers durable, energy-free storage and rapid retrieval, though commercialization remains distant and practical scale remains a challenge.